Every Breath You Take
by strangerfran
Summary: Eleven wants to see her friends, but mostly mike, again after the Hawkins Middle snowball of '84. Will Hopper let her see them again bear her year of isolation is up?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Aftermath

Eleven

I laid in bed as I thought about the Hawkins Middle Snowball of '84. It was one of the best nights of my life. I had a lot of fun dancing with my friends, but the best part of the night was sharing a kiss with Mike. I was replaying that moment in my head when I heard the secret knock on the front door

*Knockknock...knock...knockknockknock*

I snapped out of it and opened the door. Jim Hopper came in, late as usual, apologizing that he got caught up at a job. "It's fine, honestly," I said "I was just doing some thinking anyways." He entered the kitchen and grabbed some stuff out of the fridge to make dinner. "What were you thinking about?" He asked while preparing our meal, "...The snowball" I responded. "Do you miss your friends?" "Yes, I've been thinking about them a lot in the past two weeks... I want to see them." He pondered for a moment "Maybe I can set something up, you can see them once a week so you don't have to miss them? Maybe I can get you one of those walkie talkies too." "That sounds like a good idea," I responded "I'll finally be able to talk to them again."

The next morning, I woken up and Hopper had already left for work. "Perfect" I thought as I walked over to the television with my blindfold, "Time to see how things are going." I turned the television on to static and tied the black piece of fabric around my head before sending myself into the void. It was cold, and dark, I could feel the water moving around my feet as I looked around. I was here to see one person, and one person only, Kali. I spotted her in the distance, sitting by the barrel that her and the rest of her crew made a fire in every night. I started walking towards her, hearing her soft voice. She was talking about me with someone, I couldn't see them, but she was telling them that she missed me. She wanted me to return. I tried to get closer, but as I took my next step I watched her vanish into the air. I pulled the blindfold off my eyes and wiped the blood dripping from my nose, I missed Kali as well but I knew I wouldn't be able to see her anytime soon.

I looked at the clock on the wall and it showed 11:30 AM. I knew I had to eat something, but I didn't know what I could make other than Eggo waffles. I opened the fridge and stared for a minute, scoping out my options. There was a loaf of bread, some mayonnaise, butter, cheese, lunch meats, and various vegetables. I took out the bread, mayo, bologna, mustard and a cheese slice and made myself a sandwich before sitting down in front of the television and turning on a movie. I had only got a few bites into my sandwich when I heard the radio start beeping. "Hopper" I said to myself out loud. I walked over to the radio which was set on channel 11 to start deciphering the morse code he was sending me. "H-O-M-E-E-A-R-L-Y... Home early..." Why would he be coming home this early? I thought to myself. I walked back over to the couch and finished my sandwich while watching my movie, thinking about why Hopper would be coming home before he was done with his job.

I was washing my dishes when I heard the secret knock on the door. The clock read 12:35 so I knew it had to be Hopper. I unlocked the door with my back facing it. I heard the door slowly creak open, "hey kid, I have a surprise for you." Hopper said while entering our small, hidden rancher. "Oh, what is it?" I asked while rinsing my plate, "you will have to see for yourself" he said, I turned around after putting my dishes away, and that's when I saw what he brought home.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Surprise

Eleven

I turned around and saw what he had brought home with him. My eyes first locked with Mike's, then Dustin's, followed by Lucas, Will and Max. I could not stop smiling. Hopper had actually brought my friends over for me to see. "Hey El!" They all chimed, "hi guys, how are you?" I replied. "I'm great, trying to get my mom's new cat to love me though. I think it might know about what happened between Dart and Mews." Dustin said "I've been alright as well" Lucas added "Max and I have been trying to complete my Super Mario Bros video game." Max smiled at that. "it's a fun game" she said. I didn't know what Super Mario Bros was, but I kept it in mind to ask Hopper later when they left. "How are you Will? Are you doing alright since the shadow monster left...?" I asked him "Yeah, I'm doing alright. Nothing weird, and no episodes since the gate was closed." He replied "that's great to hear, I'm glad everything is going well. You deserve a break from that mess." I said while turning towards Mike, "Hey Mike..." "Hey El" he replied with a big smile "How are you?" He asked me this time "I'm doing really well, I've been thinking about you a lot" I replied "I've been thinking about you a lot as well... " He said.

The rest of the time we spent all sitting on the couch watching television and eating the snacks that Hopper made us. He said they could stay for 2 hours before having to drive them back to their houses. I made the most out of those 2 hours with my friends, not knowing when I would be able to see them again. They taught me some of the material they were learning in school, they should me their history material and something called "algebra". Algebra is confusing, but I guess since they've been learning about this math stuff their entire lives, they understand it better. The confusion also might have something to do with the fact that I paid more attention to Mike than what they were showing me. I really have to catch up if I want to be starting high school with them next year.

After the 2 hours were up it was time to say goodbye. My friends were by the door putting on their shoes and jackets, saying goodbye as they tied their laces, zipped their zippers and put on their hats and mittens. I hugged all of them individually, squeezing a little harder and holding on a little longer to Mike. "I had a really good time" he whispered "so did I, Mike." I replied. We locked eyes for a few seconds before Hopper scoffed, "time to go kids, I'll be back in a bit El." We all said goodbye again before they left, and I locked the door behind them. I watched them out the window as they left. They stepped over the trip wire and made their way towards Hoppers truck that was just beyond the thick green trees. I couldn't help but wonder if they would be coming back soon. I already missed them.

I watched television for about an hour before I heard footsteps outside. I heard Hopper knock on the door and unlocked it yet again while he walked in kicking his shoes off. "Did you like seeing your friends?" He asked, "Yes! Thank you for doing that. It was really nice of you." I replied. We talked about the experience for a bit longer, he paused for a second before continuing "How would you like to see your friends every Saturday? It can alternate, they can come here or you can go over to one of their houses. I can drop you off and pick you up?" He asked me "I would love that!" I replied. "Alright, but on one condition. Every time you see your friends you have to learn something new, and tell me what you learned, okay?" That was the best condition I had heard in a while "deal." I answered. I turned back towards the television with a huge smile on my face. I'm happier now than I have been in a while.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Hi everyone, Im super sorry this took so long to get to you all, I dislocated my finger so it was really difficult for me to type, on top of already being bombarded with school work and some difficult family issues that have happened lately. I hope you can all forgive me for the wait, regular chapters will be uploaded every Tuesday again starting next week. For now I hope you can all enjoy this and I hope you all have a really great day/night where you are, when you're you're reading this. Love you all okay on with the story now.

Chapter 3

Mike

It was Wednesday afternoon and I was running outside after talking to Dustin on my walkie-talkie. "Where are you going?" My mother asked as I rushed by her "to hang out with my friends" I replied, I think I heard her saying something about being home in time for dinner, but I wasn't paying attention, all I could think about were my friends and meeting up with Hopper to talk about the arrangement. I met Dustin, Lucas, Max and Will at the arcade, our usual hang out spot and we all began discussing a way to get Hopper to let us visit El, even if it was only once a month. We got a little distracted by Dig Dug, but we eventually finalized a master plan of seeing El, we just had to go see Hopper now.

We pulled up to the police station at around 3 PM, Hopper was in his office smoking a cigarette as usual, and seemed a bit annoyed when we all busted in to present him with our plan. "No way" he said after we had explained our plan, seeing El every Saturday for one hour, rotating who's house we go to. "Why not?" I asked "We all miss her, and I'm sure she misses us too. She's probably lonely hanging out by herself all the time." He stared at me for a second while taking another drag of his cigarette, "where is this even coming from?" We all looked at each other "well, we thought that if she's going to be starting school with us next year, she may want to get used to being around people... plus its good for her to get out of the house sometimes." He took another drag "let me think about it, it's not the type of decision I can make on the spot." We all let out either a sigh or a quiet "yes" before thanking him and walking out of the station.

By Friday afternoon, Hopper had let us know that he is on board with our plan to see El weekly. Every Saturday at roughly noon we would all be able to see her as a group. All I thought about for the rest of the day was seeing El tomorrow, and how much I had to tell her since I saw her at the Snowball. I was sitting downstairs talking into the static of the blank channel on my walkie-talkie, hoping she was listening to me. I didn't mention anything about tomorrow, I wanted it to be a surprise. Hopper also promised he wouldn't say anything about the plan. Just as I was about to switch of the walkie, I swore I heard a faint voice say my name, but I was probably imagining things. El wasn't allowed to talk to me in the void, and I doubt any rules had changed since she came back. I didn't think anything of it, I switched it off and walked up the stairs to the kitchen, said goodnight to my mother, and walked upstairs to my bedroom where I crawled into bed for the night.

The next morning came fast, I was awoken to my father telling me to get up, and that my friends were going to be here soon. I looked at the clock on my wall which read 9:30 AM, I groaned slightly as I crawled out of bed, getting ready for the day by having a shower and eating the pancakes my mom had made me. By the time I was finished getting ready it was nearly 11. My friends were supposed to be here any time now, the plan was to talk about what we should do with El while we waited for Hopper to pick us up from my house. They. finally showed up at 11:15, we were just finishing discussing what we were going to do with El when my mom called us from downstairs "kids, it's time to go!" we all shared the same glance of excitement as we ran downstairs to see Hopper standing by the front door "are you all ready?" He asked "ready as ever" I responded before we all left. Today was going to be a really, really good day.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: A day out

Eleven

I woke up on Sunday morning and all I could smell was Eggos. I got up slowly and made my way out to the kitchen where I found Hopper making 2 triple Eggo extravaganzas that he now made every Sunday morning. I sat down at the small dining room table that we ate at daily. "Good morning" he said "good morning" I replied, he asked me how I slept, what I wanted to do today, the usual weekend conversation that we had. He put one of the plates in front of me before sitting down. After I told him that today's plans consisted of watching television, like usual. He paused and said "how about we go do something together? Maybe we can go and see a movie or something." I thought about that for a while before replying "Yeah, that sounds like a good plan." We ate our breakfast while deciding which movie to see, after a bit we came to the conclusion that we would go see The Neverending Story.

After watching the 1:30 PM showing of the movie, we left the theatre with our popcorn discussing the best and worst parts of the movie "My least favourite part was when Atreyu died" I said "yeah that was my least favourite part as well, but it was good when he found Falkor, I think they make a good pair" Hopper had replied. The whole movie was amazing, and seeing a movie in a theatre for the first time was a great experience. I'm thankful that Hopper took me out today for a day out rather than staying in all the time. It gets boring sitting around doing the same thing all the time, visiting the void, watching the same things on the few channels we get, reading the same books over and over again. I wanted to get out of the house more, see new things and meet more people... The only problem is that I was only allowed to go out when I was with Hopper and that happened very, very, very rarely.

When we got home there was an envelope taped to the door with Hoppers name on it. He peeled it off before unlocking the door and stepping inside. I went and sat on the couch as he read what was written on the small, folded up piece of paper. He walked over to the couch and sat down "what was on the paper?" I asked him "nothing important, don't worry" he replied, I wasn't worried but I was curious about who had delivered it and what they had said. Who could it have been? The only people who know we're out here are my friends, Nancy, and the Byer's who had been here to rid Will's body of the Shadow Monster. I sat there and thought about it for a while. What if someone knew I was out here and was going to take me away? Was I going to be brought back to the lab where Papa was? I quickly shook the thoughts from my head, if it was something like that, he would have told me I was in danger. It probably was one of the boys, or Max. All I knew was that I wasn't going to let a piece of paper ruin the great day that I had just had.


End file.
